About Colonial Nuggets Blog

June 10

This blog hasn’t been very active lately… I’ve been finding it difficult to make time to blog. However you can still follow me on Twitter.   It’s not the end though, and who knows what will happen in the future. Enjoy So say we all!!

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First Rehearsals

November 11

#theelsinorejokers

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Halloween 2014

November 01

Alverix Orcus Transfrogamorphus Spotticus Trotticus… Transferus Porcus! So say we all!!

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Friends will be friends

October 30

You’ve got friends you can trust, Friends will be friends, When you’re in need of love they give you care and attention, Friends will be friends, When you’re through with life and all hope is lost, Hold out your hand cos friends will be friends right till the end.

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A video from the XXI School Theater Awards Ceremony

October 22

  The Community of Madrid has released the official video from the XXI School Theater Awards Ceremony. The Elsinore Jokers performed a short passage from our Lord of the flies adapted for the occasion. For those who missed it and for those who want to enjoy it again, you can do it now by following this […]

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The curious incident

October 20

Wow, it’s been a very long time since I have written a single word. I guess I’ve just been too busy with life. So please, forgive me for taking a short break but I really want to get back to writing! Alright, let’s get started! First things first. Charo has joined The Elsinore Jokers!! She has agreed […]

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The Awards Ceremony 2014

May 29

Yesterday, The Elsinore Jokers gave the best of themselves at the Awards Ceremony for “XXI Certamen de Teatro Escolar de la Comunidad de Madrid“. They performed a selection of different moments of our play, Lord of the flies. They were amazing! It was also a good opportunity to see other people’s work and to share […]

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Rehearsing for the Awards Ceremony!

May 28

Last night we were rehearsing at the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático (RESAD) for the Awards Ceremony, that will take place tonight. The stage is huge so we had to re-think the moving across the boards. These are two short clips I took with my camera Tonight is the night! So say we all!!

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The Elsinore Jokers and La Joven Compañia

May 21

Last night we said goodbye to our Lord of the flies in style. It was the last performance in our theater and we were really fortunate because we counted with the presence of our friends from La joven compañia. They are super nice and down to earth people. We are extremely lucky because the Lord […]

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Winners!!

May 16

Yes!! I’m so happy to announce that our adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the flies, has been been awarded first place for the “XXI Certamen de Teatro Escolar de la Comunidad de Madrid”. To top it off, we’ve also taken home the Best Scenography award! Alicia, Paloma and I can’t be prouder of our students […]

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About a girl

May 13

Last Friday we had another edition of Fridays Rock. Nirvana!! Thank you Nico So say we all!!  

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Maria Guerrero Theater

May 07

Last Monday The Elsinore Jokers visited María Guerrero Theater. It was a fantastic experience that gave us the chance to see many places not normally open to the general public: the pit, curtains, makeup and dressing rooms… We admired the beautiful interior at the same time we listened to anecdotes of theatrical life. It was […]

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The Elsinore Jokers On The Radio

May 03

Yesterday, we were invited to the show that Marta Gonzalez Novo hosts on Radio Madrid (Hoy por hoy Madrid). It was a fabulous experience from start to finish. Given that “La joven compañía” has recently premiered “Lord of the flies” in Spanish, they wanted both groups to talk about what it was like to perform […]

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La Joven Compañia

April 30

Yesterday we went to see the amazing performance of “El señor de las moscas” by La Joven Compañia. They are a theater company whose philosophy is to meet the needs of young people who would like to grow in any of the areas of work that make up theater world: interpretation, scenery, costume design, art, […]

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To infinity and beyond

April 28

I’ve been wanting to write this post for weeks, but life and schedules have gotten in the way. And the thing is that I didn’t want to miss the chance to write about Irene. Many of you know her very well. Yes, she is one of my First Colonials, who graduated from school in 2011. […]

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“From another planet”

April 03

The Elsinore Jokers did a terrific job last Monday, this time for a panel of judges. We are extremely proud of the way our wonderful team performed! LOU: It’s the hunters! SAM: It’s the beast! LOU: It’s the hunters! It’s… THE ELSINORE JOKERS So say we all!!

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Lord of the flies is in the final

March 27

Just a quick post to let you know that our Lord of the flies is in the final of the 21st edition of Madrid School Theater Contest. Our next performance will be on March 31 at 16:45, in front of a new panel of judges. ELSINORE!!! So say we all!!

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Photos from the premiere

March 25

These terrific photos were taken by Nacho, first-colonial Irene‘s dad. THANK YOU SO MUCH NACHO! So say we all!!

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The Premiere & the judge

March 25

Here are some pictures from the amazing performances on March 22 and 24. We cannot feel prouder of our Elsinore Jokers!! So say we all!!

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Dress Rehearsal

March 21

Dress rehearsal went great. Tomorrow is the big day! Elsinore! So say we all!!

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Lord of the flies art

March 16

Angel Ruiz De La Puente and Pablo Moreno Guadalupe have designed the artwork for Lord of the flies. Angel made the poster and Pablo created the playbill. Amazing job guys! So say we all!!

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First run-through

March 12

Today, we had our first run-through of Lord of the flies, just confirming what I think you already know… this is a very special show!! Of course there were some rocky bits but we will work through it and get the job done. These are some pictures I took to give you a small peek […]

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The Island

February 24

“This is our island! Treasure island! Coral island! Castaways!” This is how we would like our stage to look like this year. The wooden modules arrived today! I’m very happy! By the way, I made this scene using Blender 3D.  I hope you like it So say we all!!

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Lord of the flies gets premiere date

February 20

Just a quick post to let you know that yesterday evening we met up with the other schools participating in the 21st edition of Madrid School Theater Contest. After a drawing of dates, the first two performances of Lord of the flies will take place the following days: Saturday, March 22 at 12:00 Monday, March […]

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Eyebombing

February 16

Eyebombing is the art of sticking “googly eyes” onto an inanimate things in the public space, in a way that cleverly lends the object the appearance of a living creature. Charo and I thought that it would be great to “humanize” the school. We asked our students to bring their cameras, we gave them some […]

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Be my Valentine

February 16

February 14, 2014 was a fun Valentine’s Day! My partner Charo prepared a fun craft activity where everybody had to make their own origami heart. We had a great time! Marina and Alicia definitely wanted to sweeten up our day and they brought some fabulous heart-shaped cupcakes they had made themselves. And to top it […]

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Get the rhythm

February 04

We had a great time yesterday practicing the choreography that Erin (one of this year’s Teacher Assistants from the U.S.) has worked out to kindle one of the pivotal moments of our Lord of the flies. Erin is the queen of rhythm! No one could stop dancing! Get the rhythm! So say we all!!

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Paradise City

January 26

Welcome back to another session of Fridays Rock! Yes, our English class on Fridays where everything revolves around the amazing world of Rock. And last Friday we had a great time because by the end of the class we improvised a super cool performance of Guns & Roses’ Paradise City. Everyone sang the first verse […]

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Piggy isn’t exactly the life of the party

January 22

Piggy is going through a “why” stage these days… Like “why is everyone so rude to me”. Or “why is everyone so negative and cranky”… In our last rehearsals we really have felt sorrow for her. Poor Piggy!! But if we feel this way is only because everyone is doing a great job giving life […]

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Colonial Nuggets turns four years old today!

January 15

Oh boy! It’s been four years since I posted my first article! Thank you all my students, past and present, for reading my blog and encouraging me in my writing. Imagine me giving you an enormous hug right now 😀 So say we all!!

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My favorite videos of 2013

January 13

Yes, it’s here! Click on the image above to see my personal top 68 videos of 2013. Like in previous years, I’ve been gathering videos that I liked while searching for information to prepare my classes. More than 4 hours of science, curiosities, knowledge, humor… I hope you like it So say we all!!

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Wrecking Ball

January 10

Although I’d have preferred Bruce’s song, today we had a great time performing Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball. Enjoy So say we all!!

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Happy New Year!

December 31

As 2013 comes to an end I want to wish you Happy 2014! All the best to you and your families! DIS chu’ botIvjaj!! So say we all!!

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Happy Holidays

December 25

To all my Colonial Nuggets, I truly and wholeheartedly wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and those you love. So say we all!!

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Christmas Festival 2013

December 23

Last Thursday we had our Christmas Festival. Our fifth graders sang The Ramones’ “Merry Christmas I don’t want to fight tonight” (Fridays Rock had to be there). We had a great time although it really flew by! Our sixth graders sang and danced Ricky Martin’s “Ay ay ay, It’s Christmas” The dancing part was hilarious […]

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Burn

December 21

This is what happened in our last rehearsal… Enjoy So say we all!!

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A video from the Awards Ceremony

December 19

The Community of Madrid has released the official video from the XX School Theater Awards Ceremony. The Elsinore Jokers performed a short passage from our Eloisa is under an almond tree adapted for the occasion. For those who missed it and for those who want to enjoy it again, you can do it now by […]

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The lost video

December 19

I was so happy to watch this video that Julia’s dad found the other day. It was shot the same day that the President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid came over to see our last play. I love it! So say we all!!

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Costume Meeting 2013

December 18

Last week we had a costume meeting with some of the parents involved in our upcoming play, Lord of the flies. This year our actors and actresses will be wearing school uniforms but we do not want them to look like the ones you would expect to see on the street at 4:00 pm, when […]

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Move like Jagger

December 09

Our last edition of Fridays Rock was devoted to Their Satanic Majesties… The Rolling Stones! We read their biography and were fascinated by the stories behind some of their most famous songs. I also wanted my students to know how Jagger moves on a stage. I played their Start me up video and asked them […]

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Her real name is Piggy…

November 27

Our rehearsals are going well and our students are beginning to learn their lines off by heart. Lord of the flies is a real challenge in many aspects, as you’ll see. But we are very excited to see our actors so enthusiastic and committed. We can’t wait to see them all in full make-up and […]

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Raise Your Hands!

November 23

Last Friday’s History of rock was devoted to Bon Jovi. We learned many things about this amazing rock band and had a great time.  My students brought wigs, leather jackets and colorful clothes to liven up the class. They’re fantastic! To top it all Alicia came by and took some pictures: Enjoy So say we […]

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Bracelets

November 17

Last Friday in Arts & Crafts my fifth graders made some simple friendship bracelets using yarn. This was part of the knitting project that my great partner Charo and I started about three weeks ago. As soon as our students learned how to make the slipknot everything went easy as pie. Everybody was so excited! Here […]

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Hey Ho Let’s Go!

November 10

Just a quick post to let you know that we devoted our last session of Rock Fridays to…The Ramones! We read their biography, do some fill-in-the-gaps and then listened to three of their greatest hits. After that, girls and boys got together to form their own Ramones band and showed us their ability to rock […]

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Finger Knitting

November 05

Charo and I wanted to introduce finger knitting in our Arts & Crafts classes. It is a simple knitting technique that is really easy for kids to do. And the best part… you only need your fingers and a ball of yarn. Our students picked it up right away! We had a great time! So […]

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Halloween 2013 (2)

November 03

A video of my fifth graders following the choreography of spine-chilling Alicia to Michael Jackon’s Thriller… Enjoy So say we all!!

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Halloween 2013

November 03

An innocent teacher is attacked by a group of evil creatures… Enjoy So say we all!!

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Pom pom pumpkins

October 30

My great partner Charo and I wanted to bring some texture and warmth into our classrooms so we decided to make these cute little pom pom pumpkins and celebrate the coming of Halloween: So cool So say we all!!

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The cast of characters

October 29

Today we announced the cast of characters that will appear in our upcoming production Lord of the flies. The atmosphere this morning was great – everybody was excited. All you could hear was ‘What character will I be playing this year?’, over and over. We were so happy to see that everyone wanted to be […]

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Chuck Berry

October 27

I’ve always used songs as a way to train listening comprehension. Children love this kind of activity because they practice English in a fun, interesting and enjoyable way. They think of songs as entertainment rather than study. And that’s great. Normally, they love the songs I pick. Sometimes I even play the guitar and they […]

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